A big surprise at the German Film Awards 2011: the film “Vincent will Meer” (Vincent Wants to Sea) and actor Florian David Fitz are the big winners of the most prestigious and most highly endowed award for German films, worth 2.8 million euro.

In his Cannes-nominated debut film "Picco", Philip Koch paints a heart-breaking picture of the German youth prison system. He says of his chosen profession, “I see myself as a storyteller.” Picco will premiere in German theaters on February 3, 2011.

When thousands of people sporting tattoos, wearing studded collars and big black boots descend on a village in northern Germany each year, the contrast with the local community could hardly be greater. South Korean director Sung-Hyung Cho made a name for herself by capturing the “clash of cultures” in her award-winning first feature-length film “Full Metal Village”, a documentary that takes a close look at the inhabitants of a small town in Schleswig Holstein who play host to one of the world’s

German films have gained a lot of press in recent years, not least through the 2007 Oscar winner The Lives of Others. Forming the foundation for the success of directors such as Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck or Caroline Link are the many top film academies in Germany. They offer top conditions to study for a career in the film industry. Young Germany takes a closer look and presents the top schools.

The Goethe-Institut, the cultural organization of the Federal Republic of Germany, is famous worldwide. But most people who know the organization associate it with German language classes. What they do not realize is that it is also one of the biggest “cinemas” in the world. Every year the 134 Goethe Institutes around the world offer some 25,000 film screenings, or an average of 68.5 per day, reac